Hey everyone! It is the last day of the month, and that means this is my last post as guest contributor for August!

It has been a lot of fun writing about comics, drawings, painted books, and more. It has also been great interacting with the DA community at large, and will be something I continue in the future. So, look around for me!

Before I go, I wanted to share with you a couple pictures of my work, all in progress stuff. I work with collage and embroidery, and really love interior scenes (remember how I mentioned "slice of life" in my last post?). So, here’s a sneak peak of a series I will be launching in a few weeks with the site Buy Some Damn Art. Check it out - Kate Singleton curates lovely shows with original art you can afford.

Seo Kim's comics are ones after my own heart. In general, my favorite stories are those that are relatable to the human experience on some level, even if they don’t relate to MY experiences. Does that even make sense? Basically, I like to consume media that shows people living life.

Seo's comics are funny, and reflect someone that has too many ideas in their head, takes on too many projects, and is maybe a little bit stubborn. I especially relate to-much-food-in-hands-forgot-utensils comic. It is a daily occurrence for me.

Wherever the work of Melissa Castrillón may take us, we are never far from her delightfully rotund subjects. Melissa has a light hand that is slightly unsteady, which gives the feel that there is constant motion in her illustrations.

She’s able to translate many of her sketches into finished illustrations, which can be a hard middle ground to find - you want it to look finished, but still want to maintain the spontaneity and freshness that comes from sketching and creating on the fly. I think for Melissa, she’s able to communicate a sense of control (in her compositions, handling of graphite) yet with her mark-making still retain the qualities that make sketchbooks so wonderful.

"Jubilant" is a word I’d use to describe the drawings of Andrew Neyer. The Ohio-based illustrator is a wearer of many hats (including being the Art Director and Head Curator at Yes), and one of them is an illustrator. "One dollar hotdog" refers to the title of Andrew’s blogger, which is aptly named. His work is so satisfying (like a one dollar hotdog) and feels inclusive and unpretentious (it’s not like we’re eating foie gras here).

I love his character design. It's sweet, but not saccharine. The proportions are elongated but don’t feel strange. Everyone has an equal chance at happiness, including people, pets, and electronic devices.

I wish that were true! Kristen Sims is an artist and illustrator based in South Africa and everyday she posts a drawing on her blog, appropriately titled, A Drawing a Day.

Drawings vary in technique and subject matter, and a lot feature fantastical situations. Many of them are really playful and infused with little moments to make you smile.

It makes me wonder if Kristen has noticed any patterns in her sketching since she’s started the project. If you were to complete a drawing a day, what do you think you’d sketch? How different would your drawings be after a year?

Julianna Brion and I both live in Baltimore, Maryland, and I recently had the pleasure of visiting her studio space. Julianna creates illustrations for a myriad of clients, but also manipulates awesome old books (think textbooks) with painting and collages.

It is in these books that she can experiment with imagery or technique. While they are important to her, they aren’t overly precious and she’s able to unwind creatively and not worry about the consequences. As a result, she’s created some great spreads.

Jessie, AKA Pencil Mountain, has so many wonderful drawings that I had a hard time selecting what to feature. Her drawings have a range - some of them are straightforward interactions between characters, while others are less representational and focus on mark making.

With the scope of Jessie’s work, there seems to be an overarching theme of demise. One person is sending another to the grave, and even some of the flora seem like it’s wilting. My favorite part of her drawings are the skulls, gravestones (I think) that are peppered throughout her more abstracted works.